Hello,
My name is Vanessa and I’ve been living with persistent concussion syndrome from a Traumatic Brain Injury from a car accident in 2019, which means, I still, to this day, have regular brain swelling, energy issues and, what I like to call, word constipation, which means I constantly have to overcome the insecurities of having a foot in the mouth syndrome, as well as, memory loss which can hit mid-sentence.
That said, most people don’t see, or notice this, as it’s an invisible injury. ( I do have brain scans to verify that this is in fact what I live with!)
In the beginning, it was so bad that I had personality shifts that were very scary, to say the least, when you feel like you have become someone you don’t recognize, this is incredibly scary! It comes with the territory. I am mentally stable and quite resilient despite all of these challenges… I couldn’t remember what someone had just said, and I had visual issues, cognitive issues, basically every aspect of my life was challenged, and no-one really understood what I was going through, and to make things even worse, many didn’t believe me. This was heart-breaking and extremely terrifying to say the least… to be so incredibly challenged, and lost and with very little support.
There I was, a life coach, hypnotherapist, author, and musician and, I was completely lost at sea… everything I had worked for, creating in my life, disappeared in a blink of a eye as my ability to function was challenged beyond measure.
I spent all my savings on bills and creating what I had hoped would be my saving grace, an app/online course… because, I thought that if I made videos, I could then edit all my fumbles and challenges and hopefully build something that could work for me if my traumatic brain injury, god-forbid, got worse…
So, I basically arrived at what I thought would be the finish line, hoping to make some kind of return on my investment, but soon found this to only be the finish line of my savings…. and instead of having the proper funding to launch properly, I ended up “failing” because of lack of funding and this was incredibly soul crushing and to boot I learned how many “friends” were thrilled to see all my hard work not pan out….
This was deeply and totally devastating…
Now, here’s the thing… it’s not that I failed…. my dream was to bring high-end coaching to the masses for an affordable monthly fee, but what I learned is that if there isn’t enough skin in the game…. they will not be invested enough to do the work to get the results that they are seeking…
Basically, there I was, still really challenged after hitting the end of my savings and still not feeling confident enough to work with my clients again… I ended up in an Uber and Lyft, which in my book, is not a living wage, just long hours hoping to meet basic needs. But it’s all that I felt I could do after feeling so crushed by things not going as expected.
This, however, did serve a very wonderful purpose, as it helped me get my words back, my confidence back, and my deep love for connecting with my fellow humanity!
The problem, is that it’s a hamster wheel, and once your on it, it’s very difficult to get off. Especially considering that you’re making just enough to barely get by, while also exhausting all the actual and valuable time that is very much needed to course correct.
I have since learned that, there is someone who is very successful, who is doing very much the same as what I have been doing/creating, (we, of course, have our own unique signatures to our work), but, she’s doing it full-time, with her husband and two employees.
This is wonderful news and it gives me a great sense of relief to know that the systems that I have set are already working elsewhere, I simply just need the funding to get me across the VICTORY finish line!
Although these have been the most challenging years of my entire life, I have to admit, the person that I have become, and what I have learned have been such incredible gifts, that in the long run, will only add to what I can bring to the table to my clients and the rest of the world.
My Goal is 20K, 10k to make the changes to turn the monthly app into a 6 week bootcamp that has an app… and 10k to properly advertise it, of course, more funding would enable me to hire the help I need, so, the more, the merrier.
That said, the long hours and spending every spare moment working on my app/ course has left me stretched beyond measure and even the smallest amount of help could help me get that much more needed me time, and to help with my general health and well-being as I’ve barely had a day off in the last year.
My intention is to pay this forward it in a big way down the line!
Thank you for your time and consideration!
Much love and gratitude- Vanessa
paypal.me/vanessasmith1182